A new video teacher evaluation process in Washington County Schools has been temporarily suspended while the state reviews the practice, but teachers and parents are asking why they weren’t notified of the program in the first place.

In January, the school district received a shipment of 16 cameras — one for each school plus the central office — made by thereNow, paid for through a grant awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Assistant Director of Schools Bill Flanary said the cameras were to be used in a pilot program testing their effectiveness for teacher evaluations, a cornerstone of the state’s accountability reforms under the Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model, or TEAM, program.